Other winners include 10% and Ignorant.

A short film titled 10%, about a young man who is obsessed with his mobile phone, won the Made in Qatar Award at the Ajyal Youth Film Festival, presented by the Doha Film Institute, winning a $5,000 award.

The film, directed by Yousef AlMoadhadi [pictured], won the award for “the simplicity of its central idea coupled with its excellent techniques in cinematography, direction and presentation,” announced the jury.

The jury also gave Special Mentions to Hind’s Dream by Suzannah Mirghani for “its artistic vision and poetic screenwriting”; Qarar by Ali Al Anssari for “its consummate technical proficiency in cinematography, direction, acting and special effects”; and Takrir by Ghassan Kairouz for the “excellence of its concept and execution and the beauty of its presentation.”

For excellence in performance, the jury acknowledged actors Mohammad Al Hamadi in Hind Al-Ansari’s Amreeka Laa!, Mohammed AlSyari in 10% and Sally Al Mansori in Qarar.

The Made in Qatar Awards were chosen from 20 films screening at the Ajyal Youth Film Festival. They are directed by Qataris - or those who call Qatar home - by a jury comprising three arts professionals from the Gulf region, Hala Al Khalifa, Mohammed Saeed Harib and Saad Borshid.

The Made in Qatar programme at the festival included several short films made as part of collaboration between the Doha Film Institute and Seha, the National Health Insurance Scheme for the State of Qatar, through which the directors have made films about Qatar’s tradition of care.

In other festival sections, the winners included Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash and Allan Harmon’s If I Had Wings.

  • Bader:

Short: Keys of Heaven (Finland, Turkey; Farsi, 2014), directed by Hamy Ramezan

Feature: (Whiplash (USA, English, 2014) directed by Damien Chazelle

  • Hilal:

Short: Helium (Denmark, Danish, 2013), directed by Anders Walter

Feature: If I Had Wings (Canada, English, 2013) directed by Allan Harmon

  • Mohaq Shorts:

Ignorant (Kuwait, Arabic, 2014), directed by Yousef Al-Abdullah

 

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